


When I'm in front of you I can only tell lies (The truth is I want to bewitch you.)

by Buttercup_ghost



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, H a r o l d, Heteronormativity, Hopeful Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Paulina you useless lesbian, compulsory heterosexuality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-03 08:50:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11528802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Buttercup_ghost/pseuds/Buttercup_ghost
Summary: I really like your cute smile, show that kind of face to me onlyOr; Paulina has a Gay Crisis™.





	When I'm in front of you I can only tell lies (The truth is I want to bewitch you.)

**Author's Note:**

> The ship name for this is gothic princess and for that reason alone it's a fucking crime this paring doesn't have more content

There was something attracting about her—alluring. That was what initially attracted her to her, made her realize she was a threat. There was a curtain Quality to darkness—sexy, some would say—and it was dangerous to Paulina's social reputation.

And so she ruined her.

It wasn't hard to do, really, that manson girl didn't seem to like the spotlight, or attract attention, at least not in the same way. Instead of trying to fit in, to conform to what others wanted her to be, she wanted to stand out, be _defiant_.

She would be lying if their wasn't something fascinating about that; drawing her in. She was so unique, interesting, _different_.

And then she called her shallow, for what? Rejecting a boy she hardly knew, after his pants _fell down in front of her?_ It wasn't like she did anything, really, before that. She never liked the social slaughter that went on. But something shifted.

She was _not_ shallow.

But, if she wants her to be, why not play the part? She wants a show, so put one on!

She finds she wants to make her jealous; she'll steal her little boyfriend, because, because…

She wanted her to look her way.

(Somehow, a ghost boy saves her from a dragon's grasp, so she pretends she loves him. She pretends that he could save her, save her from her own words, save her from the echo of her mom, save her from everything that keeps haunting her. Sometimes, she pretends so well she fools herself.)

 

It all spirals from there.

Hateful comments flew from each other, they had a rivalry that everyone knew about, glares and insults hurled, seething emotions simmering just under the surface. And she hates her, she really does, she claims, despite her beating heart saying otherwise.

Still, though, even if she did like sam—liked seeing the red coming to her cheeks; if she squinted enough it could almost pass as embarrassment instead of anger—she was sure that Sam did not feel the same, the echos of her insults pounding against Paulina's head.

She wasn't shallow. She wasn't.

Was she?

 

 

  
Years pass, the first scuffle between them forgotten by Sam, getting smaller and smaller, Paulina getting meaner and meaner, anger and frustration at what she didn't even know coming out in snide comments and harsh glares, not only at Sam, but at her whole friend group too.

Paulina would never say it, but she envied Danny.

She envied how close they were, punching and joking and people calling them love birds, their flushed faces as they denied it—was that just from embarrassment of being mistaken as that, or because they were really like that?—she envied how much Sam seemed to like him, compared to how Sam seemed to loathe her.

So she pretended she hated him.

It was easier that way, than to admit her sparking, burning feelings, that she was—her! _Her!_ —jealous of him.

  
And so here she was, Paulina Sanchez, the most popular and daughter after girl in school, crying on the bathroom floor.

She doesn't know what set her off—a comment Sam made? a look she gave her?—but it doesn't matter.

Because her whole life feels like it's crashing down on her and she knows, she _knows_ , sam's _right_.

She is shallow, and horrible, and _mean_.

She remembers when spectra was there, whispering in her ears about how her popularity depends on her looks and her lovableness depends on her popularity, and she wonders if it's all _bullshit_ , if every code she's abided to is wrong. And she remembers Valerie, shaking and telling her what she said into her ears, _spectra says I care too much about material objects_ , she remembers how when her so called friends fears came true, how she laughed and kicked her away, kicked her when she was down, like she _always_ does.

(She remembers how sam came to her asking for her necklace back, remembers how beautiful she looked, remembers her sneering in her face and throwing every kindness she gave her in her face because she didn't know what else to do.)

 

She doesn't understand why she feels like this.

 

 

“H-hey.”

She looks up, makeup smudged and ruined, to find sam above her. She looks uncomfortable, shifting from foot to foot. She must have ran after her when she fled the screaming match they were locked in.

“Y-you ok…?” She awkward, fumbling over her words as she looks from side to side, but she's _there_.

“Listen, I- I didn't really mean what I said out there, you know…” and Paulina looks at her, uncomprehending. She doesn't even know what sam is referring to, only a blurred frenzy of words is what she recalls. She doesn't even know why they were arguing. Sam offers out her hand, extending it, and Paulina stares, unsure.

“Hey, I know there's been a lot said over the years b-but, why don't we…. Start over?” She's hesitant, distrusting, almost, but Paulina smiles, just a bit, and takes her out stretched hand.

Sam doesn't let go, even as she leads her out of the bathroom.

(Everyone is shocked at her runny makeup, and how she's next to the very goth she claimed to hate, about how frail she looks. They all gawk, and some start laughing, but sam's warm hand squeezes hers, and she thinks it will be ok, maybe.)

**Author's Note:**

> https://youtu.be/wkZLm9GQq3M


End file.
